NASA astronaut and two crewmates return to Earth today

On Aug. 24, 2016, Station Commander Jeff Williams passed astronaut Scott Kelly, also a former station commander, for most cumulative days living and working in space by a NASA astronaut (520 days and counting). Williams is scheduled to land Sept. 6, 2016, for a record total of 534 days in space. Photo via NASA

After 172 days in space, three International Space Station crew members are coming home to Earth.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams, along with Russian space agency Roscosmos’ Alexey Ovchinin and Oley Skripochka are scheduled to land in Kazakhstan at 9:14 p.m. EDT. The team launched their expedition in March, and spent their time on the ISS contributing to experiments in biology and biotechnology, according to NASA.

NASA will stream Expedition 48’s journey home, starting with their goodbyes to the remaining astronauts on the International Space Station at 2:15 p.m. EDT, and ending with their landing in Kazakhstan.

Williams will return as the new record holder of most days in spent space. He surpassed astronaut Scott Kelly’s record on Aug. 24. Williams has clocked 534 days total, over the course of four missions.